“Whoah, Cat, hold up, I can explain!”  My brain was scrambling to find a way to calm her down.

 

“Explain?” she exclaimed.  “Explain what, exactly? The reason you’ve broken into my home?”  She hesitated a moment in confusion. “Wait, how did you know my name?”

 

I tried not to look directly into her sideways glare.  “I’m… Chris.”

 

She seemed taken aback.  “Chris? Chris who?” Her eyes were shifting left and right like she was expecting something to jump out at her.

 

“Chris Wilcox,” I said.

 

She looked at me like I’d just tried to sell her a bridge.  “Right, and I’m supposed to believe you’re somehow now a weird, pale-ass girl.”

 

“Would you believe I got transformed by a weird ritual and sucked into another dimension?”  I mean, it’s no less likely to work than telling her my name.

 

She stood up straight for a second and seemed to be thinking.  “That’s… actually, that’s just a fucking weird enough story to be believable.”  Huh. I guess sometimes people DO figure these things out that easily. “I think you’re going to have to give me some more details.  Couch. Now.”

 

She didn’t need to tell me twice.  Everybody knows that when Cat uses THAT voice, you do what you’re told OR ELSE.  So, we walked over to the couch and sat.

 

“Heh, you really must be at least one of my roommates, because no one else obeys me that fast,” Cat said with a chuckle.  “So, if you’re Chris, let’s hear it. There’s a LOT to unpack in that statement.”

 

I proceeded to explain my rather unceremonious tumbling into a marriage proposal, my invitation to the Library of Sigurgeir and my apparent ability to create monsters and, of course, track and field on ice.  By the end of it, Cat’s jaw looked like it was about to elope with the floor.

 

“That is some bullshit,” she said finally, her voice drawn out in awe.  “If you’re so much stronger, prove it.”

 

“Oh, I’ll prove it,” I said, scooping Cat up in my arms and lifting her up as though she were an actual housecat.

 

“Okay, okay, I believe you!” she shouted in a fit of giggles.  I gingerly placed her feet back on the ground. “So… now what?”

 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

 

“Well, I mean, that’s… a lot to take in, and it sounds like you haven’t even had time to process any of it.  Honestly, have you even considered that you’re now unemployed? How are you going to pay your share of the rent?”

 

Shit.  I hadn’t even considered that.  I’ve been so caught up in being pulled into some sort of Viking fantasy apocalypse that I haven’t even had time to think of what to do with my more mundane problems.  “I guess I hadn’t really thought that far ahead,” I said as I took my seat on the couch again. Suddenly, a whole lot of that worry came crashing back on my shoulders.

 

“And… you’re a girl now,” Cat continued.  “That’s also a big life change. Do you even know what bra size you are?”  The weight of my breasts seemed heavier as she said this. They weren’t growing, but it just occurred to me how much pressure they created on my chest.  The entire house started to seem smaller. Has it always been this small? “And that’s to say nothing of the fact you’re now the four MacGuffinmen of the apocalypse.”  Tears began welling up in my eyes.

 

Half a dozen kobolds materialized around me and began tearing off around the house.  “Shit!” I screamed. “I’m so sorry! I’ll try to get rid of them!” I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself as Cat screeched and chased after the tiny monsters.  Pots and pans clanged as the kobolds and Cat fought, and I struggled to concentrate and calm my nerves.

 

Finally, everything went quiet.  I could hear Cat breathing heavily.  I opened my eyes to see the house, already a mess from being the home of 3 20-something adults, now even more a mess as the kobolds had been seeking desperately to find… something.  An escape, perhaps?

 

“Holy shit,” Cat said between breaths.  “Thank goodness nothing was broken. You need to get that under control or we’ll all get kicked out and lose our deposit on top of it.”

 

I looked down at my feet, shifting uncomfortably.  “I know. It’s just… I don’t know anything about this.  I don’t think Arey and Astveig even knew anything about it.  They didn’t seem to have a plan for what to do if the betrothal ritual was completed but the marriage wasn’t.  All I know is that it seems to kick in when I’m panicking, and, given everything that’s been going on, it’s been really hard to avoid panicking.”  My voice hitched at the end as tears started welling up in my eyes again.

 

Cat wrapped me in a hug.  “Hey, it’s alright,” she said in a soothing tone.  “We’ll figure this out one step at a time, okay?” She leaned back so I could look her in her deep, brown eyes.  Everything about her just said “warmth” at that moment, and for the first time in days, I felt like I was actually safe, not just protected like I was at the Library.

 

“So…” she continued.  “Have you told your parents yet?”

 

And the comfort’s gone.

 

“Oh god…”  I hadn’t even thought about it, but my parents won’t recognize me.  I’ll just be some strange “woman” to them. An especially strange looking one, at that.  How could I even attempt to explain what had happened? And if things didn’t go well, this curse could wreak total havoc.  I’ve been lucky so far and only had it triggered in relatively controlled environments. What if I get into real trouble? How many monsters could I spawn?

 

“Yep,” said Cat.  “That’s kinda what I thought.”  She swallowed, likely thinking about how much of a challenge it would be.  “I think that’s going to have to be step one, but we don’t have to do that right away.  Have you had lunch yet?”

 

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.  “I don’t know. I’m kind of a big jet lagged, I guess.  It was night in Jötunheim when I stepped through the portal, but it was day on this side.”

 

“Huh.  Weird. Then again, pretty much everything about this is weird, so I’m not sure why I should be surprised.”

 

Cat made some sandwiches, and we talked about the events of the past couple days.  Apparently, she was really worried when I didn’t come home the other day, but our other roommate, Justin, didn’t much seem to care, which really didn’t surprise me.  Justin is kind of a dick. I’ve never really liked him, but he’s never tried to start a fight or anything.

 

“That reminds me,” Cat interjected.  “Justin can be kind of a creep. Now that you’re… you know,” she gestured to my body, “you should probably watch yourself around him.  It took me a week to get him to finally realize I wasn’t going to be into him.”

 

I’m reasonably certain that, if my skin weren’t already pretty much stark white, I would have gone pale at that thought.  “No…” I didn’t even want to think about it. I wasn’t gay, so I never found guys attractive. That’s never really been an issue before, but now I don’t know.  I don’t want guys hitting on me. I wasn’t even especially comfortable with girls hitting on me even though I DID find them attractive.

 

“Yep,” she continued.  “He can be really persistent.  Though maybe he would be turned off knowing who you are.  I don’t know. Welcome to womanhood,” she added with a shrug.  “So, what’s it like?”

 

“Huh?”  I wasn’t sure what she was asking me.

 

“Suddenly being a girl,” she clarified.  “That’s got to be a bit of a shock, right?”

 

I just sat there blinking for a second.  “Um, it’s okay, I guess. I mean, I haven’t really had time to focus on it much.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Cat said, but I couldn’t help thinking she was holding something back.  Her eyes had that look like she knew something that I didn’t but she wasn’t sharing.  “You’re going to need some new clothes.”

 

“Yeah, I guess.”

 

“Don’t get too alarmed,” she continued, “but you’re going to need bras too.  Can’t have the twins bouncing around freely.”

 

At that, my eyes went wide.  Oh, right. Boobs. Breasts. Ta-tas.  I’m pretty sure I was blushing by that point.

 

“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re blushing!”  I’m pretty sure Cat just said that to make me blush more.  It worked. “So, um, have you thought about pronouns?”

 

“Pronouns?”  I echoed.

 

“Yeah.  Like, do I call you ‘he’ or ‘she’?”

 

“Uh, I don’t know…”

 

Cat gave me that look again.  “You don’t know, huh? Well, how about we try out feminine pronouns for a bit and come back to that.”  I was getting the feeling Cat was finding this a little too enjoyable.

 

“Okay,” I replied sounding more than a little stunned.

 

Cat stood up and grabbed her purse.  “Okay, let’s go then!”

 

“Go where?”

 

“Shopping trip, silly!  We need to get you some clothes that aren’t going to fall off if you don’t physically hold them up!”

 

****

 

“No.  I’m not wearing that.”

 

“Why not?” Cat whined, giving me her puppy dog look.

 

“Because I’m not going to dress up like a gothic lolita.  YOU wouldn’t even wear that dress.” I took the dress from her and placed it back on the rack.  A few yards away, I could see one of the store’s sales reps giggling at me. “Look, we’ve got a few outfits for me to try on.  Why don’t I go try them on and then we can get out of here before we become the laughing stock of the whole shopping center?”

 

“Okay,” she said, and I swear I could see her ears drooping.

 

I made my way into the changing room and took off my shirt.  Okay, that’s a sight I find it hard to believe I could ever get used to.  My breasts were not especially big. I’d say they fit my build quite well.  My new build, that is, which was much more slender than my old body. No more broad shoulders and barrel chest for me.  Well, maybe barrel chested, if you just gave me a couple of really tiny barrels.

 

I fumbled with the bra we had picked out.  Cat had measured me before we left, so we had a rough idea of what my bra size was.  I’d never put one on, though, so I was kind of struggling.

 

“Um, Cat?” I called out.  “Could I get a hand?”

 

Cat practically burst through the door.  “Honestly, you boys can never figure out bras.”  I winced at her comment. It felt very awkward being called a “boy” now.

 

Cat took the bra off of me, turned it around so that the front was now on my back and had me clasp it in front of me, then turn it around again and slide my arms through the shoulder straps.

“There.  Now, how does that feel?”

 

“Well, it’s on,” I said, “and it doesn’t hurt.  Is that good?”

 

“That sounds good.  Need help with anything else?”

 

I looked at the pile of clothes that we’d collected.  It was all pretty straightforward stuff. Shirts, pants, one skirt picked out at Cat’s insistence.  “Nah, I think I’ve got it from here. Thanks.”

 

“No prob, Bob,” Cat said with her usual chipper attitude.  She opened the door just enough to slip out without revealing my partially naked body to the world.  “Oh, don’t give me that look,” I heard her say through the door. “She needed help with a bra! We weren’t making out!”

 

I chuckled as I heard Cat attempting to assuage gossip from other shoppers, and I continued to put on the shirt we’d picked out.  It was a simple white t-shirt, though the fabric was a bit thinner than I was used to. I threw on the pair of jeans we picked out.  Looking in the mirror, I now looked like I belonged in an 80’s punk band. Honestly, not a bad look on me.

 

It’s weird.  I would have thought I’d be more uncomfortable with this, but it’s actually not bothering me much.  Being a girl, I mean. It’s just sort of there, and not really a big concern. I mean, sure, I’m pretty much carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, being the catalyst for the apocalypse and all, so I do have other things to concern myself with, but I still would have thought that having such a core element of my identity uprooted would have been more of a shock.

 

I still have to confront my parents, though, and that’s going to be scary.  My mom and dad have always put all their expectations on me. I never felt like I was good enough to meet any of those expectations.  They wanted me to go to college, and I did, but I dropped out because I couldn’t keep up with my classes. They wanted me to get a job, and all I could manage to get was a sales job at a crappy comic shop.  The economy wasn’t great, so I was lucky to get even that, but you couldn’t tell them that. They were of the belief that they worked hard to get where they are and that luck had nothing to do with it, despite having grown up when the economy was booming.

 

But they were my parents, and I loved them anyway.  You can’t choose your family, after all, right?

 

My reverie was interrupted by Cat banging on the door.  “Hey, you okay in there?”

 

“Yeah,” I called.  “Just a sec.”

 

I unlocked the dressing room door and stepped out.  Cat looked at me with wide eyes. “Damn, girl. I knew you looked good before, but when your clothes actually fit you are SMOKING.”

 

“Uh, thanks,” I said, blushing.  Again I couldn’t help thinking I should be bothered by this, but Cat’s praise only made me feel a little funny.  Maybe giddy?

 

Cat struggled to regain her composure.  “So, what do you think?”

 

I shook my head.  “I guess it’s good.  It fits fine, and I don’t feel totally awkward wearing it.  I think I’ll go pay for this stuff and we can be on our way?”

 

Cat nodded.  “Okey dokey. And then we can go and meet the ‘rents.”

 

I’m glad I wasn’t drinking, because I surely would have done a spit take.  “You make it sound like we’re dating.”

 

Cat’s face was all concern at that point.  “I mean, in a way it’s kinda like that. I know you and your parents didn’t have the best relationship before, and with all of… this,” she gestured at my body, “it’s going to be a lot for them to take in, and how they react could have a big impact on your future.”

 

I rolled my eyes.  “Yeah, no pressure.”

 

Cat placed a hand on my shoulder.  “I’m serious, Chris. It’s a lot for you, and you’re not in the best headspace.  I just want you to know that I’m here for you, no matter what happens.”

 

“I… I know,” I said, struggling to find the words to express my gratitude.  “Thank you, Cat. I don’t have the words to express how grateful I am.”

 

In that moment, our something seemed to flow between our eyes.  Like lightning, there was an energy there. I felt a connection with Cat in that moment that I had never felt before, and I felt my heart grow heavy.  Was this what I’d been longing for all this time?

 

“Alright, now, don’t get sappy on me.  Go pay for this shit and let’s get out of here.”

 

Aaaand the moment was gone.

 

I went ahead and paid for the clothes we’d picked out.  Holy shit this stuff is expensive! I was going to have to find a new source of income soon or else I’d be broke.  But that is a worry for future me. Present me has a date with my parents. Eww, no, I take that phrasing back.